Speed, seam, swing, swag… the elements that make India’s trio of Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah the most devastating pace-bowling firm in the WC | Cricket-world-cup News

“This Indian team is scary”. Bangladesh’s Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurasinghe had said before their game a couple of weeks back. It is probably a term that was never used as an adjective for an Indian cricket team. West Indies in the 70’s & early 80’s and Australia in different phases of their hory; but not India, and that too in a World Cup. But Hathurasinghe is right. Intimidation is certainly in the Indian air this tournament.
The swagger is unmakable. They don’t need to depend on marketing personnel to cook up hype, they don’t need to dig up imagined rivalries to whip up frenzy, they don’t need to cheapen themselves with mauka-mauka sort of tripe.
They can just announce They can just announce “come watch India bowl” or even just “The Indian team is playing here”. The fans will come in droves, OTT views will spike. No masala needed. They had shot out Sri Lanka for 50 in the Asia Cup final; they gave away just five runs more now.

Some of the older followers of Indian cricket might be unprepared for this zany development, wondering how to take it all in, unused to this strutting across the cricketing stadiums, but the majority of fans seem to be relishing watching this team. Nerves might begin to jangle when the knockouts come—even there, the fretting is likely to be more about the law of averages catching up rather than cricketing implosion.

Mumbai’s Wankhede crowd certainly lapped it all up in the company of Sachin Tendulkar. The morning had begun with them chanting the most famous Indian fan chant of them all – Sacheen Sacheen, as he walked up to place the glittering trophy for their eyes. The evening would progress in full-throated gasps and joyous cries as Indian bowlers blew away the neighbours in intimidatory style.
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At one point during the dramatic denouement, the cameras caught Tendulkar sitting with his former team-mate Ajit Agarkar, who is the current chief selector. Tendulkar was mimicking a bouncy delivery, his fingers dramatically whipping the ball down, the kind of stuff that kids do while bowling imaginary balls as they go about their daily life. And the crowd oohed and aahed when they caught the visuals on the big screen. Tendulkar has played with Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar, Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble, and Zaheer Khan and Aashish Nehra – but has never been part of a bowling unit quite like this.
There are different kinds of intimidation; West Indies were the most visceral one, Australia would snarl, but Indians intimidation isn’t physical, but enticingly cerebral and skilful. This is not to say that the West Indies weren’t. Just a Michael Holding quote to this newspaper would suffice to stub out any silly notions: “Even our bowling, it was as if they thought, all we needed to do was run up and bowl fast or short or whatever. That’s what irks me the most. I tell them to go check the scorebook: how many were lbw, bowled, caught in slips or whatever. It’s as if they don’t want to credit our thinking. I have never seen more intelligent and craftier bowlers like Andy or Malcolm.”

Indians won’t face such dismissive stereotypes; their skills will be what will be and is being talked about.
Jasprit Bumrah’s first delivery was proof enough. The front arm, as ever, extended way ahead than other bowlers and at an inward-angle, pushing the ball in, towards Pathum Nissanka. Understandably, the angle and the trajectory made Nissanka prepare himself for an incoming delivery. But he missed the trickery from Bumrah’s fingers. It darted away, leaving Nissanka in an awkward tangle. Opened up, squared-up, he was a silent witness as the ball trapped him lbw.
Wicked wizardry
Or you can take Mohammed Siraj’s first delivery, another rip snorter. The left-handed Dimuth Karunaratne clearly wasn’t prepared for the wizardry right away. The full length and the late inward movement rendered him immobile, and he was a frozen duck as the ball pinged his pads.Most Read
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Or consider Mohammad Shami’s fourth ball. He had already taken a wicket off the third, Asalanka snared at backward point the electric Ravindra Jadeja whose fielding alone had been relished the fans. At what point while taking the catch he starts thinking about his celebration is the million-dollar question as even as his body stretches and curves in a blink, he has not only cupped but is already on his feet and into his celebration. But the spotlight on that ball for now. A Shami pearler with all the bells and whles: no one else has made the kids across India act like tailors, raving about the shiny thread that seams up the ball together. Unsurprisingly, it kicked up to take Hemantha’s edge.

If you aren’t still satiated, you can tap up the OTT app to see Shami’s fourth wicket, the one that ended Sri Lanka’s lone resance in Angelo Mathews. A full blood-curling inswinger that whooshed past the wave to rattle the stumps. Mohammed Siraj summed up his fast-bowling colleague’s skill and wit nicely: “Shami bhai ki baat mat karo .. woh toh legend hai .. unko neend mai se uthtao toh daalo toh bhi line or length pe daphne… hum beat kar rahe hain aur woh aake punja nikal diya (Don’t talk about Shami bhai. He is a legend. Wake him up in the sleep and he will bowl the perfect line and length. We were just beating the batsmen and he grabbed five wickets)!”
It took Ravindra Jadeja just four balls to remind that India had fielded spinners too as he terminated the game. Captain Rohit Sharma put their performance concisely: “Back-to-back performances shows what the seamers are capable of, they move the ball both ways. When there is something from the pitch, they are quite lethal.”

Bottle the bowling unit’s skill, sprinkle the batting audaciousness into it, and sell it as the Great Indian Swag, the biggest box office hit going around the country.